At Least 11 Injured After Driver Crashes Car Into Pedestrians Near London History Museum

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The London police detained a driver on Saturday after his car injured several pedestrians near the Natural History Museum. The crash, police said, appeared to be a “road traffic collision” and not terrorism.Published OnOct. 7, 2017CreditImage by Peter Nicholls/Reuters

LONDON — The London police arrested a man on Saturday after his car jumped the curb and crashed into several pedestrians near the Natural History Museum, injuring at least 11 people, the authorities said.

The crash, which the police said appeared to be a “road traffic collision” and not terrorism, occurred on Exhibition Road in the South Kensington neighborhood.

On Sunday, the driver, identified only as a 47-year-old man, was released from custody, but he was still under investigation, the police said in a statement.

In a city on edge after several recent deadly attacks, the crash had raised fears of terrorism. And a police spokeswoman initially said that counterterrorism officers were investigating the circumstances of the crash, according to Reuters.

The police said that about 2:20 p.m., the car “mounted the pavement and collided with a number of pedestrians.”

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Ambulance workers carrying an injured woman at the scene in London on Saturday.CreditKirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

Of the 11 people who suffered various injuries — mostly leg and head wounds, according to the London Ambulance Service — nine of them were taken to the hospital, including the man arrested, the police said. The injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

The Natural History Museum, one of several tourist attractions in the area, including the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert, released a statement on Twitter that said, “There’s been a serious incident outside the museum,” adding that the institution was working with the police.

The museum was sealed off with crime-scene tape and police cars as officers tried to clear hundreds of tourists and families from the scene. A woman with a blood-soaked bandage on one foot was pushed in a wheelchair to an intersection.

Large crowds of tourists, including student groups, their plans for museum visits interrupted, milled around on the sidewalk, trying to find out what had happened.

As a helicopter hovered overhead, a police officer shouted: “All the museums are closed. Please clear the area.”

In March, five people were killed and at least 40 more injured when a knife-wielding assailant in a sport utility vehicle ran over pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. He then got out and stabbed a police officer outside the Parliament building.

On June 3, three men carrying knives and wearing fake suicide bomb vests rammed their van into pedestrians on London Bridge and stabbed several people in the nearby Borough Market, killing eight.

Two weeks later, a van driver plowed into a crowd of Muslims as they finished prayers at the Finsbury Park Mosque in north London, leaving one dead.

In addition, a suicide bomber killed 22 people and wounded 59 others when he blew himself up near one of the exits of the Manchester Arena at the end of a concert in May by the American pop singer Ariana Grande.

In a tweet on Saturday, Prime Minister Theresa May thanked the “first responders” and “the actions of members of the public.” She added, “My thoughts are with the injured.”

Anne-Sophie Bolon contributed reporting from London, and Christopher Mele and Megan Specia from New York.